Thursday, Jul. 16, 2009

Retired general, lieutenant colonel join reservist’s lawsuit over Obama's birth status

General, lieutenant colonel join suit similar to 2 already thrown out

By Lily Gordon - lgordon@ledger-enquirer.com
Comments 329
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A controversial suit brought by a U.S. Army reservist has been joined by a retired Army two-star general and an active reserve Air Force lieutenant colonel.

Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook filed the suit July 8 in federal court here asking for conscientious objector status and a preliminary injunction based upon his belief that President Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as president of the United States and commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

However, before the issue got to court, Cook’s orders to deploy to Afghanistan were revoked. Lt. Col. Maria Quon, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Army Human Resources Command-St. Louis, said Tuesday that Cook was no longer expected to report Wednesday to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida for mobilization to active duty. Cook, who claims he is now the victim of retaliation due to his suit, received his mobilization orders to report for active duty at MacDill on Wednesday. From there, he was to go to Fort Benning on Saturday for deployment to Afghanistan.

* March 2009 dismissal of complaint http://media.ledger-enquirer.com/smedia ... ate.70.pdf
* October 2008 dismissal of complaint http://media.ledger-enquirer.com/smedia ... ate.70.pdf
* Soldier balks at deploying; says Obama isn’t president http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/776335.html
* Soldier who says Obama isn't president doesn't have to deploy, Army says http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/bre ... 77472.html

Cook is an Individual Mobilization Augmentee. This means he’s a reserve soldier assigned to an active component unit consisting of active duty soldiers instead of a reserve unit, which is composed entirely of reserve soldiers. He is assigned to the U.S. Army Element of U.S. Southern Command.

Last week, Cook filed a request in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector represented by California attorney Orly Taitz.

The government, in its response to the suit, claims that Cook’s suit is “mootâ€